EUROPEAN FEDERATION OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
Working Party of Multiphase Fluid Flow

Minutes of the Business Meeting

1. The chairman, Prof. B.J.Azzopardi, welcomed the delegates to the meeting, held in connection with the 4th Workshop "Apollonia '99". With the agreement of the meeting, he also welcomed three representatives from our Bulgarian hosts, Prof. Chr. Boyadjiev, Prof. J. Hristov and Prof. Y.Ivanov and invited them to join us in the meeting.

2. The minutes of the 1998 meeting in Brighton were approved, with no matters arising, not already on the agenda.

3. Catalogue of Multiphase Flow Research
   Professor Azzopardi explained that his request to the EFCE for funds for a complete update and improvement of the Website had met with no response, so that no progress had been made. He suggested that delegates urge their National bodies to press the EFCE on this matter. several other Working Parties had expressed interest in following our lead and establishing similar Catalogues.

   In reply to Prof. Brauner, he said that the sum requested was ?5000 for 3 months' time of a Research Assistant, and Professor Brauner wondered if it might be cheaper in other parts of the EFCE. Prof. Azzopardi proposed that we draw up a project plan listing the facilities needed and circulate this to members. He also agreed to express our disappointment to the EFCE about the lack of support. Prof. Draho( reported an interest from his colleagues who had used the site to locate possible Research Partners and urged that we continue to accept updates.

   Prof. Giot suggested asking for funding from the EU, and agreed to investigate this possibility.

   Dr Hills agreed to ensure that the site was maintained in its present form until the problem of funding was resolved. The defunct counter would be re-instated, and a link established to the Technicon site in Israel.

   It was agreed to add the Website address, which was not available at the meeting, to these minutes. The address is:

   http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/~eczwww/EFCE_Multi/index.htm

   Links are also established to the IChemE homepage in the UK, the EFCE homepage on the DECHEMA site, and the EUROTHERM site in Italy.

4. Membership
   The Secretary presented an updated list, and asked for corrections. Professor Azzopardi reported that we still lacked a Danish representative, and that he was making moves to have a Greek representative added to the Working Party.

   We would welcome a Bulgarian representative also, and our Bulgarian guests were urged to approach their National Society, who should make a nomination to the EFCE. The EFCE would then approach the Chairman, who could give his immediate approval.

   The problem of inactive members was discussed. It was appreciated that not every member could be expected to attend every meeting, and that some could only attend rarely, but a number of members had never contacted the Secretary, or responded to his letters or FAXes during his eight years in office. It was agreed that he should write to the EFCE, naming the countries which appeared to have an inactive member on our list.

5. Future meetings 2000
   The members of the Working Party had already been circulated with the suggestion that we participate in the ESCAPE 10 meeting, in Florence from 7th to 10th May. As there were no objections, the chairman had agreed to this, and members should already have received the announcement and call for papers. Although the deadline for submission of abstracts had already passed, it was suggested that members might still consider sending abstracts to the organiser, Professor Pierucci in Milan.

   Ideas for 2001 were asked for, but no concrete suggestions were made.

   It was suggested that we might like to consider the CHISA meeting again for 2002, but no firm decision was made.

   Professor Boyadjiev spoke about the series of workshops of which the present meeting was the 4th. They were established at the suggestion of Professor Nakoryakov of Russia as a place for cheap, informal meetings between East and West. Professor Boyadjiev hoped they could be held every year and could establish a strong connection with our Working Party. The next meeting, Orpheus 2000, would be held in the mountains, and he hoped many researchers from the West would come.

   Professor Azzopardi replied that the business meeting of the Working Party must continue to circulate between the various member countries, and could not return to the same country too frequently, but we would make every effort to publicise Orpheus 2000 and to encourage our members to participate. Professor Nir asked for early notification of the exact dates of the meeting.

   Prof. Hristov informed the meeting about the South-East European Countries (SEEC) Agreement for cooperation in the field of Fluidised Bed Combustion. He asked the Working Party to publicise this organisation, whose next 3rd Symposium would be held in 2001.

6. Any Other Business
   Professor Azzopardi told the meeting that Dr Hills had retired from the University, and did not wish to continue as Secretary beyond the 2000 meeting. At the same time, Professor Azzopardi wished to stand down as chairman, having already served 9 years. He asked the meeting to consider the matter, and to be ready to nominate successors to both posts next year.

   Professor Giot suggested the Bulgarians might like to organise the ExHFT7 conference, and in that case they should attend the ExHFT5 meeting in Greece in 2000. He could help them with lists of contacts. It was also suggested they should make contact with Professor Celata (EUROTHERM) and the ICHMT in Turkey.

7. There being no other business, the Chairman closed the business part of meeting with thanks to the delegates. He then invited Mrs Maria Doichinova, a PhD student working for Professor Boyadjiev, to present a paper entitled

   "Gas-liquid hydrodynamical mass transfer in counter-current flow"

   This presentation, part of our regular series to encourage young researchers, was well-received and gave rise to some interesting discussion.